The Hyatt New Orleans, which got hammered really badly during Hurricane Katrina, decided today to cancel all group business through 2006., according to Hyatt Hotel Corp.’s vp of sales Fred Shea. All cancellation fees are being waived for the 250 meetings and catering functions that were on the books between now and next December. Click here for more cancellation updates.

Unbelievable.

According to this bizjournals.com article, Mississippi can’t afford to perrmanently lose its casino business—their loss of business due to hurricane destruction is costing $500,000 a day in tax revenues alone.

One idea expressed by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Larry Gregory, head of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, is the possibility of changing state laws to allow casino owners to rebuild Gulf casinos on land.

Mississippi law allows casinos to be built only on barges, while accompanying hotels can actually be built on land. One reason the casinos were hit so hard in Mississippi is because the barges they were built on were blown inland.

Any changes to the existing laws will take at least a few months, according to industry insiders, but a condition of any rebuilding effort in Mississippi could depend on what happens in that time. Revenues from the Mississippi market all but guarantee the properties will be rebuilt, and Mississippi has a reputation of being one of the better casino gaming states to work with. Barbour says he will make the recommendation and the Legislature will probably agree with him.

I’ve never been, but I hear from people who have done/been to meetings in the area that it’s perfect for smaller meetings. I’m not much of a gambler, but I hope, once the area is rebuilt, the casinos and the meetings they draw both come back strong. The local economy needs it too much for it to be otherwise.

While most hotels are donating a percentage of their net profits this month to the Red Cross for hurricane relief, the Shoreham hotel’s approach is in true Nawlins style: They’re donating 100 percent of bar receipts from sales of its Southern Relief cocktail to the relief efforts, and management is going to match the funds raised.